Advertising device



w. A. MCELNEY ADVERTISING DEVICE Filed July 25, ms

Fla. 1.

INVENTOR. zdw'amaej BY.

Mw1 a W ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 22, 1927'.

4 1,618,599 PATENT orrlcs.)

winner; a; tourney, or WESTFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

an'vnn'rrsmo nnvron.

Application filed July 25, 1925. Serial No. 45,988.

My invention relates to improvements in advertisingdevices in the form of shields, caps, or mouth-pieces applicable to the small ends of cigars, and consists essentially of a hollow member of the general shape and size of the tapered or pointed-end portion of a cigar, being open at the large end toreceive the cigar butt. and perforated at the small end for the passage of. the smoke therefrom, and rovided intermediate of its ends with exterior projections in the shape and form of letters, numerals, or other characters or figures, that disseminate information and partake of the nature. of an advertisement, all as hereinafter set forth.

- This device may be made of very thin sheet-metal, such as aluminum, ,or of celluloid, gelatin, and other suitable thin' material. Usually, in reducing the device, a piece ofthe particu ar sheet material used is first stam ed out to produce a disc of the proper size, aving an opening'in the center thereof, and projections in the form of letters, numerals, or other characters or figures, struck u therein or therefrom and then this disc is transformed into a hollow 'member of the required shape and size, by

means-of a punch and die. Male and female punch and die members are employed for forming the indentations in one side and,

producing the elevations on the other side of the disc, except in the'case ofcelluloid, and possibly that of gelatin, when only a female member is requlred.

' The primary object of my invention is to produce a device bearing integral, raised advertising matter, and adapted to fit on and serve as a mouth-piece for a cigar. This device is especially well adapted as a medium for the display of the trade-mark for the cigar on which it is used. and thereby removes the need for stamping the trademark on the cigar, or applying to the latter a band on which is printed the 'trade-mark. The name of the manufacturer and theplace of manufactureof the ci ar, and other data or information may also e disseminated by means ofthis device. The device interferes in no way with the drawing qualities of the cigar to which it is applied, but, if anything, improves such qualities.

. It is necessary that a mouth-piece for a cigar have a more or less broken, roughened, or uneven exterior surface in order that the same may 'be grasped securely between the lips and held in place, and the treatment of 'turer of the cigar.

.my device to produce raised letters or characters on the exterior surface thereof furnish inherently the required broken surface. or unevenness.

The punched or embossed. parts of the device, being hollow inside, have edge portions which are in contact with the cigar and assist in retaining the-device in place on the same.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of the following description.

I attain the objects and secure the advantages of my invention by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a top plan of a blank after the same has been struck out and punchedin readiness t-obe formed into a, device which embodies a practical form of my invention; Fig. 2, a side elevation of a device formed from said blank; Fig. 3, a central, longitudinal section through said device; Fig. 4, a side elevation of the device in place on a cigar, and Fig. 5, a top.plan of a blank having the advertising matter arranged therein and thereon in circular formation, instead of in radial formation as in the first example. i

All of the views, except Fig. 4, are on a greatly enlarged scale.

Similar reference characters designate similar parts throughout the several views.

In Fig. 4:, a cigar is represented at 1, and p on the pointed or small end of said cigar is an advertising device or mouth-piece 2 which will first be described.

- The mouth-piece 2 ismade from thin sheet material formed up from a blank or disc 3 which is-stamped out, perforated in the center to provide an opening in the apex of said mouth-piece, as 4, through which the smoke is drawn from the cigar 1 when lighted, and embossed to produce projections on the exterior and indentations on the interior of the mouth-piece, such projections having the form of letters and figures, the former being indicative of the name of a company and giving the'name of the city wherein said company is located, and the latter being the trade-mark in duplicate of said company. The company is assumed to be the manufac- In the present example the company is designated'by the letters XYCO, the place as ERIE, and the trade-mark as 71. Obviously any other letters or .figures or combinations of the same might be substituted for. those herein appearing.

The company designation and the name of the lace are embossed on one diameter of the iso 3, respectively on opposite sides of the center or opening 4 therein, and the trade-mark a are twice on a diameter of said disc whic first-named diameter, wit one trademark on each side of said center or opening. The letters and figures are arrange to read toward the apex ofthe mouth-piece 2, although such arrangement is not im ortant, since they might be arranged to rea in the opposite direction, or some arranged to read in one directiom'and some in the other.

The embossing may be done at the time the disc 3 is cut from the sheet and the opening 4. is punched therein, and then said disc thus prepared is formed into thereqmred shape with a suitable punch and die.

The mouth-piece 2 fits snugly onto the butt ofthe cigar 1, and the edges of the 1ndentations produced by the embossing en gage contiguous parts of the cigar and assist in holdingsaid mouth-p1ece in place thereon. The projections produced by the em.- bossing afford a broken or uneven surface for the lips to grasp, and thereby enable the. mouth-piecewith the cigar to be held by the lips without slipping, previous to and while the cigar is being smoked. Thus it is seen that the advertising characters inherently afford means for holding the device in place-on the cigar and between thelips, and sopractically insure the retention of the trade-mark or other matter of information on th'e cigar until the latter isconsumed, since the device will not easily slip off, and, being serviceable as a sanitary mouth-piece which can be held safely and comfortably between the lips, is not liable to be pulled off and thrown away, which are very'valuable considerations, In Fig. 3, the indenta- 'tions are indicated by the numeral 5, and in Figs. 2, 3,'and 4, the projections are indi cated by. the numeral 6.

Incident-ally it may be observcd that the small end of the cigar 1 must'be left open at its extremity, instead of being closed as in the case of an ordinary cigar unprovided with a mouth-piece, in order that the draft through the cigar will be uninterrupted or free when the smoker draws in his breath through the opening 4, andthat portion of the cigar which is enclosed by the mouth piece may beleft in a more or less rough or 3 unfinished condition because it is so enclosed is at right-angles to said or covered. For sanitary reasons the mouththereon in a circle, as illustrated in Fig. 5,

and it might be possible so toemboss' the disc that the advertising matter would :be ar-' ranged in some manner other than radially or in a circle. Only the repeated trademark is represented in Fig. 5, but the company designation and the name of the place of manufacture, or other matter, might be interspersed with a less number of the trade marks. Naturally no. limitation can be placed on. the advertisingmatter tobe embossed on the disc, beyond the limitations:

as to size and quantity or amount" A cigar equippedwith one of my advertising devices is smoked in practically the same manner as a cigar which is not so equipped. After the cigar has been smoked the device is thrown away. Necessarily, therefore, the device must be produced at a very-small cost. i In addition to the changes and modifications hereinbefore pointed out, others may-g be made, especially in matters-of material, size, and-shape, without departing from the spirit of my invention, or'exceedin th scope of what is claimed.

l/Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire}v to secure by Letters Patent, is-'---' I 1. As an improvedarticle of manufacture, an advertising device applicableto thetip end of a cigar, and comprising a hollow cylindrical seamless member conical at one endand having, intermediateof its e'nds,-r'aised parts which serve the double purpose of delineating matter of an informative character, affording gripping means to be grasped by the lips to prevent said device from slipping from between them. 2. The method of making an advertising device consisting in embossing a disc, between the center and rim thereof, with information-disseminating matter,-' and" in forming said disc into a hollow cylindrical member with a conical end.

WILLIAM A. MoEL-NEY. 

